Responding to wild fires generally located in rural areas that have limited road access, firefighting vehicles may not be able to be bought proximate to the fire site to deliver the water to the fire. Rather, water from the water pumping system of the remotely-located firefighting vehicle may need to be delivered to the fire through continuously attached sections of fire hoses. Due to the wilderness area's generally difficult topography (e.g., hilly, shrub covered areas that may significantly resist or inhibit the pulling of connected sections of fire hose through such areas), firefighters may have to deploy in teams with each team member generally carrying one or more sections of fire hose in relay manner towards the fire site. In doing so, one member may attach an end of its hose section to a hose connection point of the water pumping system of a firefighting vehicle. As the relay team then progresses towards the fire site, the connected hose then pays out from that firefighter. Once that first section of fire hose is substantially fully paid out, another member of the team may connect that member's hose section to the unconnected end of the paid out first hose section. The relay team then resumes its movement towards the fire site as the connected second section of fire hose pays out from the second firefighter. This process generally repeats as the team(s) comes within sufficient proximity of the fire with continuously-connected sections assembled into a fire hose.
With the fire hose so assembled and connected to the firefighting vehicle, on-site firefighters may initiate communications with firefighting vehicle personnel to activate the water pumping system to pressurize the connected/completed fire hose or line with water to allow the firefighting team to commence firefighting activities at the fire site. After the fire(s) is(are) stricken or sufficiently ameliorated to allow firefighters to stand down the use of the assembled fire hose(s), the relay teams, after having the lines being depressurized, may disconnect the various fire hose sections and bring them back to the firefighting vehicle.
In one instance, each firefighter may transport one or more fire hose section(s) that have been tied together in nested horse shoe configuration with two of the loops of the configuration being used as shoulder straps allowing the firefighter to load the fire hose section(s) upon their backs with subsequent payout capability. In other instances, fire fighters may use fire hose carrying packs (e.g., soft-sided, backpack type containers) containing one or more fire hose sections. The carrying packs may contain fire hose section(s) that are substantially coil-wrapped or U-shape folded in a manner that allows for subsequent fire hose section payout from the pack. Both types of fire hose transport means substantially allow the firefighter's hands/arms to be generally free to help the firefighter to negotiate the wild land terrain as the firefighter proceeds with fire hose section(s) towards the fire site.
When the overall wild fire event has ended (e.g., the wild fire site[s] being sufficiently extinguished or otherwise placed under sufficient control), firefighter relay teams and their respective firefighting vehicles can return to their fire stations. At the station, the disconnected fire hose sections may first be dried out (e.g., raised to vertical position for draining, etc.) The fire hose sections may then be subject to a vacuum means to substantially remove air from their hollow interior to present them into a more compact state for placement into their carrying packs. This can be accomplished by sealing one end of the hose with a suitable sealing connector and securing the other end to a hand primer (e.g., a vacuum pump that may be primarily used for removing the air from [and subsequently allowing the introduction of water into] the water chamber of portable centrifugal water firefighting pump prior to its proper operation.) The hand primer may then be used to remove air from the hose section interior to collapse the hose section into a compacted state. Once placed in this compacted state, the hand primer and sealing connector may be removed, and the collapsed hose section may be folded or coiled for placement within its hose carrying pack.
In ongoing firefighting field operations, there may be time limitations or access constraints regarding the application of hand primer to fire hose sections to remove air from (e.g., induce a vacuum to) a fire hose section interior. Without the significant removal of air from the hose section interior, the hose section may not collapse into its compacted state that substantially allows it to be folded/coiled for subsequent placement into its respective carrying pack. In such instances, the hoses may instead need to be folded and tied by themselves sans fire hose packs, as previously described, for later firefighter transport to another fire site.
What may be needed is a simple, inexpensive, small, easy-to-transport hose adapter that could be pneumatically powered by a pressurized air supply (e.g., air brake system of a firefighting vehicle) to induce a vacuum to remove air from a fire hose section interior. This air removal could allow the hose section to be placed within a compacted state for subsequent loading into a respective carrying pack. Such an adapter and a method of use could provide for quick, easy, successive, and repeated loading of the fire hose into hose packs for successive transport and repeated deployment by firefighters at various fire sites within wilderness fire scene.